Apparatus for making stereoscopic parallax panoramagrams



H. E. IVES May 232, 13419 APPARATUS FOR MAKING STEREOSfiOPIC PARALLAXPANORAMAGRAMS 2 Shets-Sheet 1 Filed Feb. 26, 1951 INVENTOI? H. EJVES B)M 4 KM ATTORNEY .May 22, 1934. H WES 1,960,011

APPARATUS FOR MAKING STEREOSCOPIC PARALLAX PANORAMAGRAMS Filed Feb. 26.1951 2 Sheets-Sheet 2 INVENTOI? q' 7 H.'./VE$

B) Y M 6. KM ATTORNEY A I ,5in stereoscopic relief. a

Patented m 22, 1934' 1,9'605011 APPARATUS FOR MAKING STEREOSCOPICPARALLAX PANORAMAGRAMS v Herbert E. Ives, Montclair, N. J., assignor toBell Telephone Laboratories, Incorporated; New York, N. Y., acorporation of New York Application February 26,1931, Serial No. 518,334

13 Claims. (01. tie-16,6)

This invention relates to the producing of pictures in stereoscopicrelief and more particularly to producing stereoscopic parall'aie panoeramagrams which on projection present An object of the invention is toprovide an arrangement for taking at a single relatively short exposurea stereoscopic parallax panoramagram picture.- L

The invention is applicable to either still or motion pictures.

In one arrangement illustrative of the invention, a large diameter lensis positioned to focus an image of a desired object-upon a screen ,15 orgrating, such as a sheet of glass or celluloid,'

- which has one smooth fiat surface and an opposite ridged surfaceformed by a series of parallel concave cylindrical grooves. The concavegrooves may be formed on the side of the screen either adjacent or awayfrom the large lens. The image is focussed as sharply as possible upon\these concave grooves. The lens is of the kind described. in a paper byH. E. -Ives entitled Parallax Panoramagrams Made with a Large DiameterLens and published in the Journal of the Optical Society of America forJune 1930 beginning at page 332. This lens is so large that it may besaid to look around an object in'the same way that a personlooks aroundan object due to the spacing of his eyes. Elemental beams of lightpassing through elemental portions of the large lens aretransmittedthrough the screen and the raysthereof diverge upon emerging from theconcave cylindrical grooves. To cause planar diffusion of the incidentelemental'beams in a vertical direction, a ribbed sheet of transparentmaterial such as glass or celluloid, in which the ribs or corrugationsrun x at right angles to the concave cylindrical grooves 40 of thescreen, is placed between the lens and the screen and as close aspossible to the screen. The divergent rays emerging from the concavecylindrical grooved surfaces appear to come from virtual image pointslocated a short distance behind the grooved surfaces. ;A plurality ofthese virtual image points are formed corresponding to the numerouselemental beams coming from elemental portions of the object andtransmitted through narrow strips of the large lens to the .50 screen;The virtual image points behindeach grooved surface taken togetherconstitute a virtual-image ofv the large lens. The virtual panoramagramformed by the plurality of these virtual images is photographed by'means of 'a short focus'photographic-lens, in reduced size,

pictures I upon a light sensitive film, forming a stereoscopic parallaxpanoramagram picture of the original object. The virtual strip images sophotographed are correctly oriented right and left in contrast to thepseudoscopic images ordinarily produced by a large lens and opaque linej grating. produced in this manner may be placed in a projector whichprojects images of the panoramagrams upon the rear ridged surface of'alenticular translucent diffusing screen such as is shown in the patentof H. E. Ives No. 1,883,290

.patented October 18, 1932. An observer viewthe front of the ridgedscreen sees stereo-- scopic relief pictures ofthe original object.

The large lens of the above mentioned illustrative arrangement may bereplaced by a large strip concave mirror and a semi-transparentmirror-in a modified embodiment of the invention. These mirrors form animage of the object as sharply as possible on the cylindrical grooves.-Preferably a spherical concave mirror is used,.if the picture is thesame size as object. Otherwise an elliptical mirror is used with theobject'and, image at the foci of the ellipse. The mirror is stopped downas much as possible in the vertical direction in order to improve thedefinition of the image. A mirror arrangement of this kind incombination with an opaque line grating is described in a paper by H. E.Ives entitled Parallax Panoramagrams Made with a Large Diameter ConcaveMirror and published in the Journal of the Optical Society of America ofNovember 1930 begi ng on page 597. The type of. parallax, panoramgramproduced with the mirror and opaque line grating, however, ispseudoscopic instead of stereoscopic.

A further modification of the taking arrangements above describedinvolves the use of a large plane-convex lens positioned adjacent thefiat surface of the concave cylindricalgrooved screen and between it andthe large diameter lens or mirror which focuses an image of the objectupon the grooved screen. This plane-convex lens obviates thecomplication that the concave cylindrical grooves of the screen, whichare farremoved from the axis of the large diameterlens or mirror, willbe only partially filled with light. This piano-convex lens can bechosen of such strength as-to image the large diameter lens or mirrorcentrally in each concave groove of the concave cylindrical groovedscreen. If the small photographic lens which photographs the virtualpanoramic strip from the concave grooved screen, upon the motion picturefilm, is sum- The parallax panoramagr'am pictureciently far away, itwill recieve some of the diverging rays from all points of the virtualstrip image. stronger so that it throws light from the large diameterlens or mirror into ,the small photographic lens from all points of theconcave cylindrical grooved screen, the ribbed light diffusing sheetordinarily placed back of the grooved screen may be dispensed with.

The invention will now be described more in detail with reference to theaccompanying drawings.

Fig. 1 is a diagrammatic showing oi an arrangement for takingstereoscopic parallax panoramagram pictures with alarge lens;

Fig. 2 is a diagrammatic showing of one or rangementior the projectionof a steroscopic parallax panoramagram pictures;

Fig. 3 is a detailed showing of a top view oi the ridged screen shown inFig. l; v

Fig. i is a detailed showing of a modification oi the apparatus shown inFig. 3;

Fig. 5 is a perspective showing of the ridged screen shown in Fig. l V

Fig. 6 is a diagrammatic showing of a modification of the takingapparatus shown in Fig. 1 using large concave mirror;

Fig. 7 is perspective showing of the talring apparatus shown in Fig. ii.X

Reierring now to l ig. l, a large diameter lens 2 is positioned to focusan. image of an object 1 upon the concave cylindrical grooved suriace 3of the transparent screen 4. It small short focus photographic lens 5photographs the image, formed on the grooved surface 3, upon the lightsensitive emulsion 6.

corrugations arranged side by side and running.

across the entire sheet. These ribs are positioned at right angles tothe axes of the concave cylindrical grooves forming the grooved surface3 oi. the screen. a, and cause verticalplaner diffusion of the incidentlight rays. Unless this means is provided for vertically diffusing theincident. light rays, .the cylindrical concave grooved surface 3 of'thescreen a would appear from the photographic lens 5 simply as ahorizontal strip of light. p

The image photographed on the film 6 is of the stereoscopic parallaxpanoramagram type; that is, the film recordconsists of an infinity ofnarrow strip images which when viewed through an opaque line gratinggive a picture in stereoscopic relief. This infinity of strip images isformed from the single composite image of the object 1 projected by thelarge lens 2 upon the transparent screen 4. This multiple division ofthe single image which is focussed as accurately as'possible on thegrooved surface ofthe screen 4, is eflected by the pluralityoi concavecylindrical grooves forming the grooved surface 3. Each of these groovesacts as a lens element and forms a panorama of virtual strip images'backof the By making the plano-convex lens still "ramagram pict If the lens2 is large enough to give suiiiciently widely separated grooved surface3 of the large single image prd duced by the lens 2. I

Under ordinary conditions the parallax panoramagram picture made with alarge lens, such as the lens 2 in Fig. 1, would be of the pseudoscopictype due to theinverting action of the large" lens, that ,is, theindividual strips of the picture are inverted right for left. Forprojection in correct relief according to the methods of this invention,the parallax panoramagram should be of the stereoscopic type, that is,the strip images of the pseudoscopic parallax panoramagram would have tobe oriented right for left to put them in their proper order. The actionof the transparent screen. is to obviate the pseudoscopic eiiects and toproduce instead a stereoscopic parallax panoe of theo ject 1, which isproduced upon the late or 1m c.

referring now to Fig. 2, the stereoscopic parallax ,panoramagram picture6 of Fig. 1 is positioned in the projector ll. Positioned in iront orthe projector 8 and at a suitable distance is a transparent lenticularlight diffusing viewing screen 9, of the type described in the patent ofH. fives, supra. The picture projector ii projects images of theparallax panoramagram 6, upon the rear ridged surface oi the lenticularscreen 9. These images ii viewed from the opposite side oi the screen inthe direction indicated by the arrow will appear in stereoscopic relief.

The action oi" the screen it for producing stereoscopic parallaxpanoramagram pictures of the object 1 will be better understood from aconsideration of the detailed showing of the screen in ll'ig.l-teierring now to Fig. two parallel beams ii and 12 oi incident lightrays, coming from a large 1cm, such as lens 2 in l, .to pass through thetransparent members 7 and i and diverge upon emerging from the concavecylindrical groove as shown by 03. and. 02. The hori Zontal ribbed sheet7 causes. verucal planar diffusion of the incident beams of iii thepatios of the divergent rays iii, 15 and 17 are traced backward it isseen that appear to come from virtual image points 3.8 and 19,respectively; In actual practice there are an infinity of these virtualimage points formed behind each concave cylindrical groove of the screent, ,that is, behind each groove is termed a small virtual panorama. Nowthese panoramas, unlilre those formed, through in the manner disclosedin the paper by H. Ives entitled Parallax l anoramagrams Made with aLarge Diameter Lens and published in the June, 1930 issue of the Journalof the Optical Society of America beginning on page 332, supra are nottransposed'right and left with respect to the object image but preservethe relative positions of the light beams on leaving the large lens. Thevirtual panoramic image formed by a plurality of these virtual imagescan be photographed if rays from each element of each strip image fallin the photographic lens, that is, the arrangement in Fig. 1 may be usedto produce on film s a stereoscopic parallax panoramagram.

. A modification of the screen of Fig. 3 is shown in Fig. 4. Referringnow to Fig. 4, a parallel beam of light 20 coming-from a large lens isseen to pass through the transparent screen 4 and diverge upon emerging"from the concave groove 13, in a manner similar to that shown in Fig.3.

ill)

llfl

Here, however, instead of the transparent ribbed 1,960,011 I a 3 sheet'7, for vertically diffusing the incident Large Concave Mirror"published in the Novemlight ay a co v x le 24 is p ae di co her, 1930issue of the Journal of the Optical with the fl Side, O n v eyhndliealSociety of America, supra. The reflected'rays r v d screen WlthOut h use01 this lens 26 and 27- strike the'mirror-like reflecting sur- 01' somsimilar means t e r v in the screen face of the semi-transparentreflector 28 and are r ov d f the axis of t large lens. directeddownward upon the transparent con are y partially filled w light Theconvex cave cylindrical grooved screenr4, which is idenl ns 24 vi hi mpi y. redirecting tical with the screen-40f Fig. 1. The raysafterth'e'periphelf l ligh rays 0 th E y 0h transmissionthrough the screen 4pass through 10 th r m dges of thescreen 4 are filled. with thephotographic lens 5 and onto the film 6.. light- The funetionof this o ve 2 W The rays 26 and 2'l as describedrepre'gent only be understoodbetter if considered in connecti n boundary rays in one plane from theboundaries, with a taking system such as shown in Fig. 1. of the object1 and in between these rays are The convex lens 24 can be chosen of suchan infinity of intermediate similar directedrrays. 15 strength as toimage the large lens 2 centrally in The parallax panoramagram pictureproduced each. groove 13 of the screen 4. Iii! the lens 5 is on the film6 by this method isfin its properties then sufilciently far away, itwill receive some of J and utilization 'exactlydike that produced by thediverging rays from all the points of the the large lens 2 'andscreen 4of th taking ap- -strip image. By making the convex lens 24 stillparatus in Fig. 1;- that is, it is a stereoscopic 2 0 stronger so thatit throws light from the large parallax panoramagram having the proper95.

lens 2 .intmthe lens 5 from all points of the; orientation of its stripimages for correct relief; screen'4, the transparent ribbed sheet 7 mayprojection in the arrangement of Fig. 2. be dispensed with. Fig. '7shows a perspective view of the taking Referring to Fig. 5the'perspective drawings apparatus of. Fig. 6. This will give a clearer25 show the screen 4 in a verticalposition with idea or the relativesizes and space relationships t e co cylindrical grooves. 13 r angedside of the component parts of the system. The large y side; Thetransparent h d sheet 7 is diameter concave cylindrical strip mirror 25shown Positioned behind the -S screen 4 views the object 1 through anangle of approxiand having its ribbed surface of horizontal cor-' mately0 h 25 s a concave 3o ru i coincident w th t e fla r ar surface ofspherical curvature slnce it represents a strip the screen 4. Ifhe horio tal ribs 011 t sheet 7 sector of a largegspherical mirror. In practicerun in a direction at right angles. to the axes the effective width ofthe concave mirror 25 is of the vertically positioned concavecylindrical very sma1l, that is, only a, very narrow strip, of grooves13 0f the screen Dllrihg Operation the order of one inch or less isused. The nar- 35 according to the, arrangement shown in Fig. 1, rowerthe strip, the greater will be its depth of a composite picture of theobject 1 is projected focus and the sharperwill be the focusing actionby, the large lens 2 upon the screen from the of th mirror. -In settingup systems for acside of the ribbed h e 7-, and a short focus lens,tually making stereoscopic parallax panorama- 5, photograp s from h SideOf h concave gram pictures according to-the methods of this 40cylindrical gTooved surface 3, virtual strip invention, the followingdimensions will be of images of the object 1 to form a stereoscopicconvenience; the length of the mirror 25 'app x panoramagram on film, 6.as her inproximately five feet, its effective width after beforedescribed. I i being stopped-down about one inch, the object In Fi 6 ish w a modifleation 0f the a in i'about 8" x 3", the semi-transparentreflector 5 apparatus of Fig. 1. Here instead of u g a 28 about 5' '1: 1and the concave cylindrical large diameter lens like the lens 2 of Fig1, a grooved screen 4 about 10" x 12" x 1". These large diameter sp ri lmir or 25 is used to sizes are not critical and could be varied subimagethe object 1 from a wide angle of view. -stantially within practicaloperating limits. The extent o t e a e t ugh which a la The {screen 4 isshown here with its concave '5 diameter mirror can view an object is notas cylindrical grooves 13 vertically positioned, that 3.25 limited for pact cal reasons as that of a l ge is, vertical with respect to theimages produced lens. For all practical purposes a Ve y large upon them.These grooves are on the side of diameter mirror can he p y andeconomically thescreen 4 which face the small photographic amade. Theoperation. of the taking apparatus lens '5. On the opposite sideof thescreen'4 is 55 n g- 6 will be better uhaerstoed y. c g shownthehorizontal corrugations 31 forming a 13W the paths of the boundary lightjys from the series of ribs, .whichlie at right angles to the object 1to the mirror 25 and from the latterto axes of the verticallypositioned. grooves 13. In the grooved screen 4 and from the screen tothe this. arrangement the ribs 31 are formed dimotion picture film 6where they produce rectly upon the surface of the screen 4 and not sostereoscopicparallax panoramagrams. The upon a separate transparentsheet like the sheet boundary rays 26 and 27 emananting from the '7placed coincident with the screen'5, as shown object 1 are transmittedthrough a semi-trans in Fig. 1. The efiective use of thesehorizontalparent reflector 28 which is positioned at 45 to ribsi's the samewhether placed directly on the the center axis of the object 1. The rays26' screen 4 or ona sheet placed coincident with the 5;Land 27 aftertransmission through the semiscreen. The parallax panoramagram picturestransparent reflector 28 strike the large diamproduced on the film 6 ofFig. fl are of the eter concave cylindrical strip mirror 25, onlystereoscopic type and suitable for correct relief a narrow cross-sectionof which is shown here. projection on the rear of a lenticular screensuch. The mirror 25- reiiects these rays 26 "and 2'? as shown in Fig. 2.i

:10 back upon the semi-transparent reflector 28 The term fplanardiffusion" applies to such l4 which has a mirror-like reflecting surfaceupon diflusion of-the rays of. an elemental beam of the side toward thelarge concave mirror 25. light that therays-which lie in a given plane/Mirror 25 and semi-transparent reflector 2 8 are before diflusion alllie in the same plane after difof the type disclosed in the paper by H.E,. Ives, fusion. The rays of the elemental beam may 15 entitledParallax Pano'ramagrams Made with a or may mot be parallel to oneanother before diffusion takes place. They are not parallel, of course,after diflfusion.

The terms vertical and horizontal are used in this specification in thesame sense that they are used when it is said that the columns of anewspaper are vertical and the lines horizontal. In this sense theseterms are used without reference to the absolute position of the paperin space.

The term stereoscopic parallax panoramagram'" as used in thisspecification signifies a parallax panoramagram which has an orientationof the elemental portions of each panoramic strip such as is obtained byexposing a photographic emulsion through an opaque line grating fixedwith respect to the photographic emulsion and slightly separated from itby means of a lens moved around the object; that is, the element of anypanoramic strip corresponding to the right hand aspect of the object islocated nearest to the left hand side of the object as pictured. Suchastereoscopic parallax panoramagram and camera for producing,

the exposure is described in a paper by H. E. Ives entitled A Camera forMaking Parallax Panoramagrams published in the Journal of the OpticalSociety of America for December 1928 beginning at page 435. Ashereinbefore stated, the negatives produced according to the presentinvention are stereoscopic parallax pan-.

oramagram negatives.

The scope of this invention is to be limited only by the appendedclaims.

What is claimed is:

1. In a system for producing pictures for viewing in stereoscopicrelief, means for forming a composite image of an object from aplurality of points of view, means for-forming from said composite imagea plurality ofvirtual image pcints representing strip images of saidobject,

and means for photographing said plurality of virtual images to forma-stereoscopic parallax panoramagrann 2. In a system for producingpictures for viewing in stereoscopic relief, means for forming a singlecomposite image of an object from a wide angle of view, lenticular meansfor forming from said single image a plurality of virtual strip images,and means to photograph said plurality of virtual images to form astereoscopic parallax panoramagram. v

3. In apparatus for producing stereoscopic parallax panoramagrams, meansto form an image of an object by light rays converging through a wideangle, a screen of transparent material located substantially in theimage space, said screen having concave cylindrical grooves on the faceaway from said-image forming means and parallel light diflusing ribs onv the opposite side substantially at right angles side by side on onesurface away from said image forming means.

5. In apparatus for producing a stereoscopic parallax panoramagram,means to form an image of an object by light rays converging through awide angle, a screen of transparent material llocated substantially inthe image space, said screen having concave cylindrical grooves v on theface away from said image forming-means and a plano-convex lens on theopposite side to reduce the convergence of said image forming rays, andmeans to photograph said screen from the grooved side.

6. In a' system for producing pictures for viewing in, stereoscopicrelief, apparatus comprising ,a large diameter lens for imaging anobject from a plurality of points of view, means for forming a pluralityof virtual images of said large lens corresponding to elemental portionsof the object, and means for photographing said plurality of virtualimages to form a stereoscopic parallax panoramagram.

7. In apparatus for producing stereoscopic parallax panoramagrams, alarge diameter lens for forming a composite image of an object fromelemental light beams. I 8. In apparatus for producing stereoscopicparallax panoramagrams', a large diameter lens for forming a compositeimage of an object from a plurality of points of view, a screen oftransparent material located in said image space, one face of saidscreen comprising vertical cylindrical grooves to form virtual images ofsaid large lens, and a piano-convex lens located with the plane faceadjacent the other face of'said screen. I, Y

9. In a system for producing pictures for viewing in stereoscopicrelief, apparatus comprising a large diameter concave spherical stripmirror forimaging an object from a plurality of points of view, meansfor changing the direction of the'reflected light rays to position theimage produced by said mirror outside the beam of incident rays, meansfor forming a plurality '01 virtual images of said mirror correspondingto elemental portions of said object, and means for photographing saidplurality of virtual images to form a stereoscopic parallaxpanoramagram.

10. In a system for producing pictures for viewing. in stereoscopicrelief, a large diameter concave strip mirror for focusing an image ofanobject from a wide angle of view, a. semitransparent plane reflectorplaced at approximately fortyfivedegrees to the center axis of saidmirror, and a transparent lenticular screen for forming a plurality ofvirtual strip images of said concave mirror.

11. In apparatus for producing stereoscopic parallax panoramagrams, anelongated strip sector of a spherical concave mirror for forming groovesto form virtual images of said elongated mirror sector and the otherface comprising horizontal ribs to cause planar'diilusion of elementallight beams.

12. In apparatus for producing stereoscopic parallax panoramagrams, anelongated strip sector of a spherical concave mirror for forming acomposite image of an object from a plurality of points of view, ascreen of transparent material located in said image space, one face ofsaid screen comprising vertical cylindrical grooves to form virtualimages of said elongated mirror sector, and a plane-convex lens locatedwith the plane face adjacent to the other face of said screen. 7

13. In a system for producing pictures for viewing in stereoscopicrelief, a large diameter concave strip mirror for focusing an image ofan object from a wide angle of view, a semi-trans-" its

